How does a catering company throw a party for nearly 500 of its closest friends?
Why would anyone put themselves though that?
Cade and Ingrid Nagy, husband-wife owners of Catering by Design, and their 15-person staff threw open the doors of their new office/warehouse/kitchen to “Raise the Bar” on parties in Denver.
Thursday’s big event was the culmination of nearly a year’s work: moving into a new space, renovating a warehouse, building a kitchen, all while catering parties, picnics, meetings and weddings.
In weekly meetings leading up to the party, the Catering by Design staff worked out big and small details, from how many pink boas to order (240), what kind of straws (bendy) and what kind of music (electronica), not to mention the food (36 appetizer recipes).
“Sure, I get the jitters before any event that we do. But especially when you’re throwing your own event you get a few extra butterflies,” said Cade Nagy the day before the party. “We go through the same worries: Did we prepare enough food? Are people going to show up? Will the weather cooperate? But we love to be on the stage. We love to show off.”
He’s the creative chef side of the partnership. It’s Cade who thinks to make tiny Reuben egg rolls with Thousand Island dip, and to mix salads in martini shakers, but it’s Ingrid who keeps the balance sheets.
With an eye toward the Democratic National Convention next year, the Nagys hope that people who attended will call them when the time comes to hire a caterer.
The “raised bar” became a food pun as well as a place to sit at Thursday’s event. Bartenders shook salads in martini shakers and served them in stemmed glasses. Elbow-height tables at three U-shaped bars made comfy landing spots for partiers who pulled up stools to taste mussels, crab-cake sliders and macaroni and cheese at three themed bars designed to show off the company’s design skills as well as the food.
“Food bars are similar to a tapas bar where you sit down and have food prepared for you by a chef,” said Cade Nagy, who debuted the “salad bar” idea at Catersource, the 2007 caterers’ convention in Las Vegas. “In catering we’re tired of the typical hors d’oeuvre party where you go through a buffet and pile up food on your plate.”
This concept allows people to mingle and to sit down and eat if they want. “Brides and grooms are looking for a different way of eating – they want guests to socialize a little more and they’re getting away from the seated dinner and the buffet line. This has a restaurant feel versus a catered feel. It’s just flat-out fun.”
At Thursday’s event in the industrial district just east of Northfield Stapleton, guests had the run of the place, tasting cedar-wrapped salmon packets, fork-tender beef tenderloin and potato chips fried in duck fat in the spacious kitchen before moving through the walk-in cooler lined with chilled appetizers.
In another walk-in, a female bartender in white fur served white chocolate martinis.
Upstairs in the offices, a musician strummed the mandolin alongside the “grazing bar” with prosciutto, white bean spread, cheeses, grapes and glazed almonds. Even the walls’ food-themed paint colors sounded tasty – Wasabi, Sun-Dried Tomato, Buttered Yam, Cabernet.
Servers wearing headlamps wheeled roving carving stations with anchovy-rubbed beef tenderloin and Dijon-encrusted lamb chops.
Lucite platforms suspended from the ceiling held balsamic vinegar-drizzled strawberries with white chocolate, and buttermilk doughnuts with shot glasses of milk. The adjacent dessert bar offered “PB&J,” grape sorbet with “peanut butter dust” and brioche crumbs; chocolate banana bread pudding; and fresh berries with Russian cream.
Then guests gathered around a stage to watch the silhouettes of two of the company’s drivers, Jason Brown, who plays drums in local band Invisible Orange, and hip-hop artist Benny Campbell, as they performed a “Stomp”-like routine using kitchen gear – 5-gallon buckets, whisks, spoons, pots and pans.
Kristen Browning-Blas: 303-954-1440 or kbrowning@denverpost.com.
Enjoy the party: Do the prep ahead of time
“Most people want to have time for their guests,” says chef Cade Nagy of Catering by Design. “The only way to do that is to stay a day or two ahead of the game. If you’re going to prepare a pasta salad you can make it two days ahead – it’s going to be better anyway. If you’re doing barbecue, cook the ribs ahead of time. Keep them in freezer then throw ’em on the grill and heat them through.
“We’re gonna do grilled crostinis, so we cut the bread yesterday. They already have olive oil on them,” he says.
“Our fish is gonna be cleaned the day before and cut into filets. Steaks are cut and marinated.”
More caterers’ secrets:
Raise table heights using PVC pipe. Insert legs into pipes that have been fitted with a screw to hold and balance the legs.
Use a variety of table shapes – square, round and rectangular – to add visual interest.
Create varied heights on a dining room table with phone books, dictionaries, boxes, whatever you have, and cover with bunched linens.
Get to know your suppliers. A caterer might buy wholesale, but you can develop close relationships with your local butcher, grocer and liquor store. Ask if they can fill special orders. Butchers will cut and marinate meats for you. Liquor stores will often deliver.
“E-mail invitations are not taken seriously,” says Ingrid Nagy. Send real paper invitations through regular mail and give an RSVP deadline with an e-mail address and phone number.
Party favors are not just for children’s birthdays. Give guests something small when they leave – homemade jam or sugared nuts.
Pair your foods not just with wine or beer, but also with music. Plan a soundtrack for the evening.
Kristen Browning-Blas
Catering by the numbers
9 months of planning
$10,000 on food for party
$6,000 on fresh flowers
$20,000 on decor just for party
20 dozen feather boas
1 white fur minidress with matching boots
32,000 square feet of space
$800,000 on building renovations and kitchen equipment
600 invitations
450 RSVPs
78 servers
15 planners
36 dishes, about 250 servings each
Source: Catering by Design
